Nadia Cenci was elected leader of the 10-strong group at the end of last month, however she has no illusions that her group will be able to thwart the 35-strong Labour group from pushing through its policies.

She does, however, plan to question them at every opportunity – which is why she has accepted a seat on the executive committee of the authority.

She said: “This will allow me to raise issues at the executive and to question the officers – but I shan’t be raising issues and making a fuss just for the sake of it. When the council is doing something right they’ll get our support.”

Ms Cenci has one main objective over the next 12 months: “The priority is to get Ben (Gummer) re-elected at next year’s general election. I know we aren’t going to win back the council next year or the year after.

“But I’ll be working with Ben and his team to ensure we do all we can for him. It is vital for the town that he is re-elected to Parliament.”

She had a long-term plan to re-gain power within the next few years, but in the meantime has some key issues to highlight.

Ms Cenci said: “We have to look at improving the town centre, there are parts that are very bad, like Upper Orwell Street.

“We have to make the town centre more compact and bring in more people to live near the town centre so they can walk to the main shops and the station.”

She welcomed the news that a new office for Birketts is to be built on Princes Street; “We have to make that a more attractive road for people to walk along from the station to the town centre.”

Borough council leader David Ellesmere said his Labour administration had always offered the opposition a place on the executive because they believed decisions were better if they were robustly challenged on that committee.

He said: “We understand that the Tories had always been split on whether to take up the seat, so I am quite happy that we will now have their leader on the executive.”

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I am not a natural Tory voter ... but, if Nadia manages to achieve what she is setting out to do, I shall be delighted. Politics is not about "getting one's own way" or scoring points in the Council Chamber, it is about constructive debate which sharpens focus and - above all - gets things done.

It's good to see some opposition councillors finally on the Executive at the Borough. That said if they represent the bigoted views of Rory Breaker then we'd be better off without them. However not being a Tory voter I have to say that I have respect for Nadia Cenci's views, as she doesn't simply toe the party line but says what she feels is right, even though I don't always agree with them. So I am sure it is a good thing to have her in place to question the Executive's decision making. Not sure why the Tories have always refused this option.

I wish Nadia well because sensible and constructive opposition is vital for the good health of any council and the town it runs. In contrast the sort of overtly partisan and cliche-ridden tripe espoused by Rory Breaker is both depressing and irrelevant. His inference that council tenants are not hardworking taxpayers is a nasty insult and illustrates why many people are so reluctant to vote Tory. Ironically, her best chance of taking control of Ipswich would be for Gummer to lose and the Conservatives to become the opposition nationally, thus provoking the sort of boost parties out of power usually receive at a local level.

The problem with all polititions is that they don't seem to be able to be objective and make decisions that benefit everyone. All we hear from them are political rants about how they know what is best for everyone else. From comments here it seems to work some of the time with some people.

Good luck Nadia. I hope the people of Ipswich wake up the the deception and BS Labour feed us. We need to regenerate this town and make it prosperous again; not a haven for crime, street drinking, benefit culture etc. The town has suffered significantly over the past years, and no long term vision has ever been put forwards by Ellesmere and his team. Building council houses is not the answer for elevating our town, it merely buys future Labour voters using hardworking Ipswich taxpayers money. Good luck Tories, who whoever dethrones these foolish individuals who currently makes decisions.